Easier - During
World War II the U.S. government forced more than
120,000 Japanese Americans to leave their homes and
along with farms, schools, jobs, and businesses. In
some cases family members were separated. From 1942
to 1945, they lived in internment camps.

Harder - After the December
7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin
D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066. This act based on
ethnicity permitted the military to bypass the constitutional
safeguards of American citizens in the name of national defense.
The order excluded persons of Japanese ancestry then living
on the West Coast from residing and working in certain locations.
This traumatic uprootment culminated in the mass evacuation
and incarceration of most Japanese Americans, most of whom
were U.S. citizens or legal permanent resident aliens. They
were detained for up to 4 years, without due process of law
or any factual basis. They were forced to live in bleak, remote
camps behind barbed wire and under the surveillance of armed
guards. Japanese American internment raised questions about
the rights of American citizens as embodied in the first ten
amendments to the Constitution.

This site provides access to the UW Libraries
holdings on the incarceration of Japanese Americans
during World War II, including a virtual exhibit
focusing on the Puyallup assembly center, Camp
Harmony, and the archival guides and inventories of
the UW Libraries Manuscripts and University
Archives Division.

Detention or Concentration
Camp? Some people disagree with how
the history of Japanese-American Interment
Camps are being portrayed - - in public
monuments and in schools. To learn more
about the issues visit the following
websites. Identify the 'revisionist'
position. Debate the issues. Decide what
is accurate.

Imagine What Camp Life Was
Like. Pretend that you are a Japanese
American housed in one of the interment
camps during WWII. Write a story that
tells what your everyday life would have
been like. Share your writing.

Could It Happen Again? Sixty
years ago, most Japanese Americans were
physically detained. Most were emotionally
affected by the regretful experience. Can
you envision circumstances where something
similar might reoccur in the United
States? Debate the possibilities. Decide
what measures are needed to insure that
something like it would not happen.

The Year is 1942. The United States and Japan
are at war. Emi is a seven-year-old Japanese
American who finds herself in the middle of this
conflict. Emi and her mother are forced to pack up
all their things and move to a place called an
internment camp.

Using a variety of resources, students
investigate and interpret diverse points of view
among those interned. The lessons are organized
around the central question of' 'What are our
rights and responsibilities as American citizens?'
The goal is to empower students to recognize social
injustices and advocate for the constitutional
rights of everyone.